PARIS — Emmanuel Macron should be in no doubt that the real presidential campaign has started.

Within a few days, it has become obvious that the former economy minister and current star of the opinion polls is now the man to beat for candidates both left and right. That means he is also the man to beat up.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen branded him the symbol of “the filthy rich left.” Mainstream conservative contender François Fillon has called him “the prototype of those elites who know nothing about [France’s] reality.” On the other side of the political spectrum, Socialist candidate Benoît Hamon says Macron is “just a substitute” for Fillon himself. And far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon is taking him on as “the man who screwed up a lot of people’s lives” because he advocated liberal reforms when he was a member of Socialist President François Hollande’s cabinet.

Over the weekend, consecration even came in the form of a vague Wikileaks claim that they had incriminating information on Macron, taken from a trove of leaked emails linked to Hillary Clinton’s U.S. presidential campaign.

“It seems they will publish that he was once a Rothschild banker,” an aide to the candidate joked, citing one of the most frequently quoted facts about Macron’s biography.

All the attacks are taken as a sign, another Macron adviser opined, that his campaign must now switch gears. “We always knew this time would come,” he added. “We must now adjust accordingly.”

Macron has said he would publish his general platform by the end of February, but there are signs that the rhythm has accelerated.

The Macron campaign so far has benefited from both his personal success in making himself a credible candidate without the help of a big party machine, and a series of four strokes of luck that he couldn’t have dreamed of when he resigned from Hollande’s government at the end of August.

First came the defeat of Bordeaux mayor Alain Juppé in the presidential primary of conservative party Les Républicains in November. Juppé was seen as the candidate from the right who appealed to the same centrist voters targeted by Macron.

Then came Hollande’s decision in December not to run for a second term. Macron would have found it difficult to criticize Hollande and delineate differences with him, after having served for five years first as the president’s main economic adviser, then as his economy minister.

Third came the surprise election of dark horse Hamon as the official Socialist Party candidate for the presidency. A representative of the left of the party who had opposed Hollande’s (and Macron’s) policies, Hamon is creating unease among center-left Socialist sympathizers, who resent his refusal to endorse what they see as Hollande’s successes. Macron also stands to benefit from the Socialist Party’s general malaise.

Finally, the scandal engulfing Fillon, accused of diverting public funds to his family for fake jobs, has boosted Macron in the polls. For now, it looks like he will come top or finish second in the first round of the election on April 23 and then face Le Pen in the runoff two weeks later. Macron is polling above 20 percent in most surveys even as Fillon has slipped below that symbolic threshold.

“You may say that we’ve been lucky but you know that luck is something you work on,” said Macron spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.

But since the campaign can’t simply count on luck, some insist it should up its game. Both with a more disciplined organization and a more comprehensive platform.

Policy proposals

On substance, that means coming up with a comprehensive platform, as Macron’s rivals have accused him of lacking detailed policies. “He says he has a program: I’m waiting for it,” Fillon said in a big rally he held in Paris on January 29.

Griveaux noted that rivals haven’t published much more detailed platforms. Fillon has promised to update his primary program after scrapping its heath-care reform part due to popular uproar. And Le Pen only published her own proposals over the weekend.

Macron, on the other hand, has already released big chunks of his manifesto, including measures to scrap payroll taxes on lower wages and reform the infamous wealth tax into a real-estate tax. He has made a specialty of unveiling pointed, specific changes he would like to enact, but hasn’t provided the general scheme of how they would all fit together.

Notably, what has been lacking is the way Macron intends to finance his program, and how it would fit within the EU fiscal constraint of a public deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product, which he has promised to respect.

Macron has said he would publish his general platform by the end of February, but there are signs that the rhythm has accelerated.

The appointment in January of economist Jean Pisani-Ferry as the platform coordinator has brought much-needed professionalism and discipline into the process, insiders said.

Jean Pisani-Ferry, former commissioner-general of the French General Commission for Strategy and Economic Foresight | Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images

Pisani-Ferry, the founder of the Brussels-based Bruegel think tank. He had served as the head of the French government’s own think tank, France Stratégie, since 2012. His task is notably to make sure that all the proposals elaborated by various working groups fit together.

“Then there will be the political stage where it is all filtered to make sure we don’t make any big blunder,” the head of one of the working groups said.

One big void in the Macron camp so far is its lack of a real campaign manager. Macron indicated last year that he would be recruiting one, but nothing has happened yet.

Griveaux described a process where he and seven other top campaign aides meet every morning to discuss strategy and reaction to the day’s events, and seemed to dismiss the need for a real campaign manager.

“So far this seems to work,” he said.

Another adviser, who is not among the eight, did not seem so sure. “Pisani-Ferry often looks like the only adult in the room, but his task is not to be the campaign boss,” he noted.

As the campaign moves into higher gear, Macron will realize he needs to run a tighter ship. A political adviser noted that if Fillon stays in the race, he may not fall much below 20 percent in the polls. The adviser added that Macron himself is far from the point at which he could be seen as a sure favorite to reach the election’s runoff.

“We need to become more professional. Plus, the attacks will get worse, and we’ll need to be ready and disciplined when they start,” the aide added.

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Revolution

Finaly an independent new political party and a young person. Tired of old farts.

Posted on 2/6/17 | 4:11 PM CEST

Pexi

The new puppet of the Rotschild is trying to cheat the stupid poor French people, dear French voters were you happy with the economic results of Hollande? No…That were the results of Macron “works “…

Posted on 2/6/17 | 8:02 PM CEST

Revolution

Seeing conspiracy every where must be hard when you can not even speak french or understand french culture. What burdern to have such vision of the world? Lets see one side blame macron to be with rodchild the other blames a lady who has a family history of avoiding taxes, take loans from the usa and russia even eu….mmmmh it is uo to the french not an arrogant anglo saxon to decide